A unique tribute to the defining scientific mission of our time

Norman Mailer. MoonFire. The Epic Journey of Apollo 11

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing, TASCHEN has paired Norman Mailer’s seminal text with spectacular photography—from the archives of NASA, LIFE magazine, and many other sources—to create a unique tribute to the defining scientific mission of our time.

It has been called the single most historic event of the 20th century: On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong,Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins met John F. Kennedy’s call for a manned Moon landing by the end of the 1960s. A decade of tests and training, a staff of 400,000 engineers and scientists, a budget of $ 24 billion, and the most powerful rocket ever launched all combined in an unprecedented event watched by millions the world over. And no one captured the men, the mood, and the machinery like Norman Mailer.

One of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, Norman Mailer was hired by LIFE in 1969 to cover the Moon shot. His three-part feature was the longest nonfiction piece LIFE had published. He enhanced and extended his reportage with deeper reflection in the brilliantly crafted book, Of a Fire on the Moon, excerpted here for the first time. Equally adept at examining the science of space travel and the psychology of the men involved—from Saturn V rocket engineer Wernher von Braun, to the crucial NASA support staff, to the three astronauts—Mailer provides provocative and trenchant insights into this epoch-making event.

Illustrating this volume are hundreds of the best photographs and maps from the NASA vaults, magazine archives, and private collections. Many of them previously unpublished, these images document the development of the agency and the mission, life inside the command module and on the Moon’s surface, and the world’s jubilant reaction to the landing. This edition includes an original introduction by Colum McCann and captions by leading Apollo 11 experts, explaining the history and science behind the images, citing the mission log and publications of the day, and post-flight astronaut interviews.

Limited to 1,969 copies in two editions

Each copy includes a Plexiglas-framed, ready-to-hang,archival-quality, numbered photographic print, producedusing the revolutionary new Skia printingtechnique, and signed by Buzz Aldrin. This shot of Aldrin walking on the Moon is the definitive image of the Apollo 11 mission, and one of the most iconic photos ever taken

The author

Norman Mailer (1923–2007) was one of the 20th century’s greatest and most influential writers, as well as one of America’s most renowned and controversial literary figures. The best-selling author of a dozen novels and 20 works of nonfiction, he also wrote stage plays, screenplays, television miniseries, hundreds of essays, two books of poetry, and a collection of short stories. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, he lived in Brooklyn, New York, and Provincetown, Massachusetts.

The contributors

Buzz Aldrin made history as one of the first men to walk on the Moon. A graduate of West Point, he earned his Sc.D. in Astronautics from MIT before joining NASA, and the Gemini XII and Apollo 11 missions. He is the founder of the ShareSpace Foundation and author of several books.

Colum McCann is the author of seven books, including Let the Great World Spin. He has written for The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, GQ, The Times (London), The Irish Times, and La República.

Norman Mailer. MoonFire. The Epic Journey of Apollo 11

"If I ever had a dream that I could see in one volume the feeling of what Apollo should encompass, you have accomplished that.... The whole design, the choreography, the sense of pace, is absolutely magnificent. So many books have come out over the decades, but this actually purveys the feeling of that time radiantly. I think it will hold up over many, many the years, and of course having Mailer's writing is graceful.